Cotton variety fm 1621gl

ABSTRACT

The cotton variety FM 1621GL is disclosed. The invention relates to seeds, plants, plant cells, plant tissue, harvested products and cotton lint as well as to hybrid cotton plants and seeds obtained by repeatedly crossing plants of variety FM 1621GL with other plants. The invention also relates to plants and varieties produced by the method of essential derivation from plants of FM 1621GL and to plants of FM 1621GL reproduced by vegetative methods, including but not limited to tissue culture of regenerable cells or tissue from FM 1621GL.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 62/804,394 filed on Feb. 12, 2019, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of plant breeding. Moreparticularly, the invention relates to a variety of cotton designated asFM 1621GL, its essentially derived varieties and the hybrid varietiesobtained by crossing FM 1621GL as a parent line with plants of othervarieties or parent lines.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cotton is an important, fiber producing crop. Due to the importance ofcotton to the textile industry, cotton breeders are increasingly seekingto obtain healthy, good yielding crops of excellent quality.

Cotton is commonly reproduced by self-pollination and fertilization.This type of sexual reproduction facilitates the preservation of plantand variety characteristics during breeding and seed production. Thepreservation of these characteristics is often important to plantbreeders for producing cotton plants having desired traits. Othermethods of producing cotton plants having desired traits are also usedand include methods such as genetic transformation via Agrobacteriuminfection or direct transfer by microparticle bombardment. Examples ofsuch methods are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pub. No. 20090049564,incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Due to the environment, the complexity of the structure of genes andlocation of a gene in the genome, among other factors, it is difficultto predict the phenotypic expression of a particular genotype. Inaddition, a plant breeder may only apply his skills on the phenotype andnot, or in a very limited way, on the level of the genotype. As aresult, a particular plant breeder cannot breed the same variety twiceusing the same parents and the same methodology. Thus, a newly bredvariety is an unexpected result of the breeding process. Indeed, eachvariety contains a unique combination of characteristics.

By carefully choosing the breeding parents, the breeding and selectionmethods, the testing layout and testing locations, the breeder may breeda particular variety type. In addition, a new variety may be tested inspecial comparative trials with other existing varieties in order todetermine whether the new variety meets the required expectations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to seeds, plants, plant cells, parts of plants,cotton lint or fiber, and cotton textiles of cotton variety FM 1621GL aswell as to hybrid cotton plants and seeds obtained by repeatedlycrossing plants of FM 1621GL with other cotton plants, and EssentiallyDerived Varieties of cotton variety FM 1621GL. The invention encompassesplants and plant varieties produced by the method of derivation oressential derivation from plants of FM 1621GL and to plants of FM 1621GLreproduced by vegetative methods, including but not limited toregeneration of embryogenic cells or tissue of FM 1621GL. The inventionalso encompasses methods of producing cotton seeds that comprisecrossing plants of cotton variety FM 1621GL either with itself or with asecond, distinct cotton plant.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention has been obtained by a general breeding process comprisingthe steps outlined below. For reference, see chapter 11, “BreedingSelf-Pollinated Crops by Hybridization and Pedigree Selection” in Briggsand Knowles (1967).

Parent plants, which have been selected for good agronomic and fiberquality traits are manually crossed in different combinations. Theresulting F1 (Filial generation 1) plants are self fertilized and theresulting F2 generation plants, which show a large variability onaccount of optimal gene segregation, are planted in a selection field.

These F2 plants are observed during the growing season for health,growth vigor, plant type, plant structure, leaf type, stand ability,flowering, maturity, seed yield, boll type, boll distribution, bollsize, fiber yield and fiber quality. Plants are then selected. Theselected plants are harvested and the bolls analyzed for fibercharacteristics and the seed cleaned and stored. This procedure isrepeated in the following growing seasons, whereby the selection andtesting units increase from individual plants in the F2, to multipleplant containing ‘lines’ (descending from one mother plant) in the F5and the number of units decrease from approximately 2500 plants in theF2 to 20 lines in the F5 by selecting about 10-20% of the units in eachselection cycle.

The increased size of the units, whereby more seed per unit isavailable, allows the selection and testing in replicated trials on morethan one location with a different environment and a more extensive andaccurate analysis of the fiber quality.

The lines or candidate varieties become genotypically more homozygousand phenotypically more homogeneous by selecting similar plant typeswithin a line and by discarding the so called off-types from the veryvariable F2 generation on to the final F7 or F8 generation.

Depending on the intermediate results the plant breeder may decide tovary the procedure described above, such as by accelerating the processby testing a particular line earlier or retesting a line another year.He may also select plants for further crossing with existing parentplants or with other plants resulting from the current selectionprocedure.

By the method of recurrent backcrossing, as described by Briggs andKnowles, supra, in chapter 13, “The Backcross Method of Breeding”, thebreeder may introduce a specific trait or traits into an existingvaluable line or variety, while otherwise preserving the uniquecombination of characteristics of this line or variety. In this crossingmethod, the valuable parent is recurrently used to cross it at least twoor three times with each resulting backcross F1, followed by selectionof the recurrent parent plant type, until the phenotype of the resultingF1 is similar or almost identical to the phenotype of the recurrentparent with the addition of the expression of the desired trait ortraits.

This method of recurrent backcrossing eventually results in anessentially derived variety, which is predominantly derived from therecurrent parent or initial variety. This method can therefore also beused to get as close as possible to the genetic composition of anexisting successful variety. Thus, compared to the recurrent parent theessentially derived variety retains a distinctive trait, which can beany phenotypic trait, with the intention to profit from the qualities ofthat successful initial variety.

Depending on the number of backcrosses and the efficacy of the selectionof the recurrent parent plant type and genotype, which can be supportedby the use of molecular markers as described by P. Stam (2003), thegenetic conformity with the initial variety of the resulting essentiallyderived variety may vary between 90% and 100%. The relatedness can, forexample be determined by fingerprinting techniques (e.g., making use ofisozyme markers and/or molecular markers such as SNP markers, AFLPmarkers, microsatellites, minisatellites, RAPD markers, RFLP markers andothers). A plant is “closely related” to FM 1621GL if its DNAfingerprint is at least 80%, 90%, 95% or 98% identical to thefingerprint of FM 1621GL. In one embodiment, AFLP markers are used forDNA fingerprinting (Vos et al. 1995, Nucleic Acid Research 23:4407-4414). A closely related plant may have a Jaccard's Similarityindex of at least about 0.8, preferably at least about 0.9, 0.95, 0.98or more (Pisanu et al. ISHS 2004, Acta Hort. 660).

Other than recurrent backcrossing, as described herein, such essentiallyderived variety may also be obtained by the selection from an initialvariety of an induced or natural occurring mutant plant, or of anoccurring variant (off-type) plant, or of a somaclonal variant plant, orby genetic transformation of regenerable plant tissue or embryogeniccell cultures of the said initial variety by methods well known to thoseskilled in the art, such as Agrobacterium-mediated transformation asdescribed by Sakhanokho et al, (2004), Reynaerts et al. (2000), Umbecket al. (1988) and others. Examples of transgenic events transformed inthis way are “LLCotton25,” USDA-APHIS petition 02-042-01p, “Cot 102,”USDA-APHIS petition 03-155-01p, and “281-24-236,” USDA-APHIS petition03-036-01p combined with “3006-210-23,” USDA-APHIS petition 03-036-02p.Information regarding these and other transgenic events referred toherein may be found at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA)Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) website. An “Event”is defined as a (artificial) genetic locus that, as a result of geneticengineering, carries a foreign DNA comprising at least one copy of thegene(s) of interest. Other methods of genetic transformation are wellknown in the art such as microprojectile bombardment. See, e.g., U.S.Publication No. 20090049564, which is incorporated by reference hereinin its entirety.

The plants selected or transformed retain the unique combination of thecharacteristics of FM 1621GL, except for the characteristics (e.g., one,two, three, four or five characteristics) changed by the selection ofthe mutant or variant plant or by the addition of a desired trait viagenetic transformation. Therefore, the product of essential derivation(i.e., an essentially derived variety), has the phenotypiccharacteristics of the initial variety, except for the characteristicsthat change as a result of the act of derivation. Plants of theessentially derived variety can be used to repeat the process ofessential derivation. The result of this process is also a varietyessentially derived from said initial variety.

In one embodiment, FM 1621GL progeny plants are produced by crossingplants of FM 1621GL with other, different or distinct cotton plants, andfurther selfing or crossing these progeny plants with other, distinctplants and subsequent selection of derived progeny plants. The processof crossing FM 1621GL derived progeny plants with itself or otherdistinct cotton plants and the subsequent selection in the resultingprogenies can be repeated up to 7 or 8 times in order to produce FM1621GL derived cotton plants.

FM 1621GL is adapted for the Plains of the US. FM 1621GL was derivedfrom a forward breeding program with a proprietary experimental line, asone parent for GlyTol® and LibertyLink® tolerance, and the variety, FM2011GT, as the other parent for Glytol® tolerance. In 2011, the initialcross between the two parents was made in the BASF greenhouse inMemphis, Tenn. In 2011, the F1 seed was planted and bulked producing theF2 seed. In 2011, the F2 plants were generated in the greenhouse andtested for the GL traits (GlyTol® and LibertyLink® tolerance). In 2011,118 individual plants were selected for homozygosity in the F2generation. In 2012, 118 F3 progeny rows were grown for seed increase inArizona and individual plants were selected and harvested from theseprogeny rows. In 2013, progeny rows were planted in Lubbock, Tex. andindividual plants were selected and harvested from the progeny rows. In2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, sister lines of this material were yieldtested in several locations across the High Plains of Texas. One of thelines was selected and identified based upon performance and adaptationto the Texas High Plains. Breeder seed was produced in 2017. Theselected line was tested extensively in 2018. The line was approved forcommercial candidacy in 2018 as FM 1621GL.

Provided herein as embodiments of the invention are seeds, plants, plantcells and parts of plants of the cotton variety FM 1621GL.Representative seeds of this variety will be deposited under rules 37CFR 1.801 through 1.809, prior to issuance of a patent. Applicant willmake a deposit of at least 2500 seeds of cotton variety FM 1621GLdisclosed herein with the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), 10801University Boulevard, Manassas, Va. 20110-2209 USA. The accession numberfor the deposit is ATCC Accession No. ______. The seeds are depositedwith the ATCC on date ______. Access to this deposit will be madeavailable during the pendency of the application to the Commissioner ofPatents and Trademarks and persons determined by the Commissioner to beentitled thereto upon request. The deposit will be maintained for aperiod of 30 years, or 5 years after the most recent request, or for theenforceable life of the patent, whichever is longer, and will bereplaced if it becomes nonviable during that period. Applicant does notwaive any rights granted under this patent or under the Plant VarietyProtection Act (7 U.S.C. 2321 et seq.).

Plants produced by growing such seeds are provided herein as embodimentsof the invention. Also provided herein are pollen or ovules of theseplants, as well as a cell or tissue culture of regenerable cells fromsuch plants. In another embodiment, the invention provides for a cottonplant regenerated from such cell or tissue culture, wherein theregenerated plant has the morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of cotton cultivar FM 1621GL when grown in the sameenvironmental conditions. In yet another embodiment, the inventionprovides methods of testing for a plant having the morphological andphysiological characteristics of cotton cultivar FM 1621GL. In oneembodiment, the testing for a plant having the morphological andphysiological characteristics of cotton cultivar FM 1621GL is performedin the same field, under the same conditions and in the presence ofplants of FM 1621GL, e.g., plants grown from the seed deposited underAccession number ______. In another embodiment, the characteristics tobe tested are those described herein.

In another embodiment, the present invention provides regenerable cellsfor use in tissue culture of cotton cultivar FM 1621GL. The tissueculture will preferably be capable of regenerating plants having thephysiological and morphological characteristics of the cotton cultivarFM 1621GL as described herein (e.g., Table 1), and of regeneratingplants having substantially the same genotype as the cotton plant of thepresent invention. Preferably, the regenerable cells in such tissuecultures will be from embryos, protoplasts, meristematic cells, callus,pollen, leaves, anthers, pistils, roots, root tips, flowers, seeds, podsor stems. Still further, the present invention provides cotton plantsregenerated from the tissue cultures of the invention.

Yet another aspect of the current invention is a cotton plant of thecotton variety FM 1621GL comprising at least a first transgene, whereinthe cotton plant is otherwise capable of expressing all thephysiological and morphological characteristics of the cotton variety FM1621GL as described herein (e.g., Table 1). In particular embodiments ofthe invention, a plant is provided that comprises a single locusconversion. A single locus conversion may comprise a transgenic genewhich has been introduced by genetic transformation into the cottonvariety FM 1621GL or a progenitor thereof. A transgenic ornon-transgenic single locus conversion can also be introduced bybackcrossing, as is well known in the art. In certain embodiments of theinvention, the single locus conversion may comprise a dominant orrecessive allele. The locus conversion may confer potentially anydesired trait upon the plant as described herein.

Single locus conversions may be implemented by a plant breedingtechnique called backcrossing wherein essentially all of the desiredmorphological and physiological characteristics of a variety arerecovered in addition to the characteristics conferred by the singlelocus transferred into the variety via the backcrossing technique. Asingle locus may comprise one gene, or in the case of transgenic plants,one or more transgenes integrated into the host genome at a single site(locus). In a particular aspect, the invention provides for a method ofintroducing a single locus conversion into cotton cultivar FM 1621GLcomprising: (a) crossing the FM 1621GL plants, grown from seed depositedunder Accession No. ______, with plants of another cotton line thatcomprise a desired single locus to produce F1 progeny plants; (b)selecting F1 progeny plants that have the single locus to produceselected F1 progeny plants; (c) crossing the selected F1 progeny plantswith the FM 1621GL plants to produce first backcross progeny plants; (d)selecting for first backcross progeny plants that have the desiredsingle locus and the physiological and morphological characteristics ofcotton cultivar FM 1621GL as described herein (e.g., Table 1), whengrown in the same environmental conditions, to produce selected firstbackcross progeny plants; and (e) repeating steps (c) and (d) one ormore times (e.g. one, two, three, four, etc. times) in succession toproduce selected third or higher backcross progeny plants that comprisethe desired single locus and all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of cotton cultivar FM 1621GL as described herein (e.g.,Table 1), when grown in the same environmental conditions. Plantsproduced by this method have all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of FM 1621GL, except for the characteristics derivedfrom the desired trait.

Another embodiment of the invention provides for a method of producingan essentially derived plant of cotton variety FM 1621GL comprisingintroducing a transgene conferring the desired trait into the plant,resulting in a plant with the desired trait and all of the physiologicaland morphological characteristics of cotton variety FM 1621GL when grownin the same environmental conditions. In another embodiment, theinvention provides for a method of producing an essentially derivedcotton plant from FM 1621GL comprising genetically transforming adesired trait in regenerable cell or tissue culture from a plantproduced by the invention, resulting in an essentially derived cottonplant that retains the expression of the phenotypic characteristics ofcotton variety FM 1621GL, except for the characteristics changed by theintroduction of the desired trait.

Desired traits described herein include modified cotton fibercharacteristics, herbicide resistance, insect or pest resistance,disease resistance, including bacterial or fungal disease resistance,male sterility, modified carbohydrate metabolism and modified fatty acidmetabolism. Such traits and genes conferring such traits are known inthe art. See, e.g., US 20090049564, incorporated by reference herein inits entirety.

The invention also provides for methods wherein the desired trait isherbicide tolerance and the tolerance is linked to a herbicide such asglyphosate, glufosinate, sulfonylurea, dicamba, phenoxy proprionic acid,cyclohexanedione, triazine, benzonitrile, bromoxynil or imidazalinone.

In one embodiment, the desired trait is insect resistance conferred by atransgene encoding a Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) endotoxin, a derivativethereof, or a synthetic polypeptide modeled thereon.

Also included herein is a method of producing cotton seed, comprisingthe steps of using the plant grown from seed of cotton variety FM1621GL, of which a representative seed sample will be deposited underAccession No. ______, as a recurrent parent in crosses with other cottonplants different from FM 1621GL, and harvesting the resultant cottonseed.

Another embodiment of this invention relates to seeds, plants, plantcells and parts of plants of cotton varieties that are essentiallyderived from FM 1621GL, being essentially the same as this invention byexpressing the unique combination of characteristics of FM 1621GL,except for the agronomic characteristics (e.g., one, two, three, four,or five, characteristics) being different from the characteristics of FM1621GL as a result of the act of derivation.

Another embodiment of this invention is the reproduction of plants of FM1621GL by the method of tissue culture from any regenerable plant tissueobtained from plants of this invention. Plants reproduced by this methodexpress the specific combination of characteristics of this inventionand fall within its scope. During one of the steps of the reproductionprocess via tissue culture, somaclonal variant plants may occur. Theseplants can be selected as being distinct from this invention, but stillfall within the scope of this invention as being essentially derivedfrom this invention.

Another embodiment of the invention provides for a method of producingan inbred cotton plant derived from the cotton variety FM 1621GLcomprising: (a) preparing a progeny plant derived from cotton variety FM1621GL, a representative sample of seed of said variety having beendeposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-______, by crossing cottonvariety FM 1621GL with a cotton plant of a second variety; (b) crossingthe progeny plant with itself or a second plant to produce a seed of aprogeny plant of a subsequent generation; (c) growing a progeny plant ofa subsequent generation from said seed and crossing the progeny plant ofa subsequent generation with itself or a second plant; and (d) repeatingsteps (b) and (c) for an additional 3-10 generations with sufficientinbreeding to produce an inbred cotton plant derived from the cottonvariety FM 1621GL.

Another embodiment of this invention is the production of a hybridvariety, comprising repeatedly crossing plants of FM 1621GL with plantsof a different variety or varieties or with plants of a non-releasedline or lines. In practice, three different types of hybrid varietiesmay be produced (see e.g., Chapter 18, “Hybrid Varieties” in Briggs andKnowles, supra):

The “single cross hybrid” produced by two different lines, the “threeway hybrid”, produced by three different lines such that first thesingle hybrid is produced by using two out of the three lines followedby crossing this single hybrid with the third line, and the “four wayhybrid” produced by four different lines such that first two singlehybrids are produced using the lines two by two, followed by crossingthe two single hybrids so produced.

Each single, three way or four way hybrid variety so produced and usingFM 1621GL as one of the parent lines contains an essential contributionof FM 1621GL to the resulting hybrid variety and falls within the scopeof this invention.

The invention also provides for cotton lint or fiber produced by theplants of the invention, plants reproduced from the invention, andplants essentially derived from the invention. The final textileproduced from the unique fiber of FM 1621GL also falls within the scopeof this invention. The invention also provides for a method of producinga commodity plant product (e.g., lint, cotton seed oil) comprisingobtaining a plant of the invention or a part thereof, and producing saidcommodity plant product therefrom.

The entire disclosure of each document cited herein (e.g., US patentpublications, non-patent literature, etc.) is hereby incorporated byreference.

TABLE 1 Characteristics of FM 1621GL Variety Description ofcharacteristic Possible expression/note FM 1621GL FM1320GL General PlantType Plant Habit spreading, intermediate, Intermediate Intermediatecompact Foliage sparse, intermediate, dense Intermediate IntermediateStem Lodging lodging, intermediate, erect Erect Erect Fruiting Branchclustered, short, normal Normal Normal Growth determinate, intermediate,Intermediate Intermediate indeterminate Leaf color greenish yellow,light green, Medium Green Medium Green medium green, dark green BollShape Length < Width, L = W, L > W L > W L > W Boll Breadth broadest atbase, broadest at Broadest at Broadest at middle Middle Middle MaturityVisual rating of percent open 49.7 70.3 bolls when all testing lines inthe test were about 40% open Plant cm. to first Fruiting Branch fromcotyledonary node 19 18.3 No. of nodes to 1st Fruiting Branch excludingcotyledonary node 6.7 6.1 Mature Plant Height in cm. cotyledonary nodeto 72.6 72.1 terminal Leaf: upper most, fully expanded leaf Type normal,sub-okra, okra, Normal Normal super-okra Pubescense absent, sparse,medium, Medium Sparse dense Nectaries present, absent Present PresentStem Pubescense glabrous, intermediate, hairy Hairy Intermediate Glands(Gossypol) absent, sparse, normal, more than normal Leaf Normal NormalStem Normal Normal Calyx lobe (normal is absent) Normal Normal FlowerPetals cream, yellow Cream Cream Pollen cream, yellow Cream Cream PetalSpot present, absent Absent Absent Seed Seed Index g/100 seed fuzzybasis 10.5 10.6 Lint Index g lint /100 seeds Boll Lint percent, pulled0.47 0.44 Gin Turnout, stripped Number of Seeds per Boll 26.3 27.8 GramsSeed Cotton per Boll 5.8 5.8 Number of Locules per Boll 4.3 4.6 BollType storm proof, storm resistant, Storm Resistant Storm Resistant openFiber Properties HVI method Length, inches, 2.5% SL 1.16 1.13 Uniformity(%) 82.0 81.2 Strength, T1 (g/tex) 30.7 30.8 Elongation, E1 (%) 7.1 7.9Micronaire 4.21 4.03

TABLE 2 Diseases Bacterial Blight (Race 18) Moderately ResistantVerticillium Wilt Moderately Resistant

TABLE 3 Pests Root Knot Nematode Moderately Resistant

Deposit Information

Applicant will make a deposit of at least 2500 seeds of cotton varietyFM 1621GL disclosed herein with the American Type Culture Collection(ATCC) under Accession No. ______. The seeds will be deposited with theATCC on ______. Seed of cotton variety FM 1621GL is located at the BASFMaricopa Cotton Breeding Station, 880 N Power Road, Bapschule, Ariz.85121. The lot number for this seed material is YA8AJ6110F. Access tothis deposit will be available during the pendency of the application tothe Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks and persons determined by theCommissioner to be entitled thereto upon request. The deposit will bemaintained for a period of 30 years, or 5 years after the most recentrequest, or for the enforceable life of the patent, whichever is longer,and will be replaced if it becomes nonviable during that period. Uponallowance of any claims in the application, the Applicants will makeavailable to the public, pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 1.808, sample(s) of thedeposit. Applicant does not waive any rights granted under this patentor under the Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 2321 et seq.).

Definitions

In the description and tables which follow, a number of terms are used.In order to provide a clear and consistent understanding of thespecification and claims, the following definitions are provided:

A: When used in conjunction with the word “comprising” or other openlanguage in the claims, the words “a” and “an” denote “one or more.”

Allele: Any of one or more alternative forms of a gene locus, all ofwhich alleles relate to one trait or characteristic. In a diploid cellor organism, the two alleles of a given gene occupy corresponding locion a pair of homologous chromosomes.

Backcrossing: A process in which a breeder repeatedly crosses hybridprogeny, for example a first-generation hybrid (F₁), back to one of theparents of the hybrid progeny. Backcrossing can be used to introduce oneor more single locus conversions from one genetic background intoanother.

Cm to FFB: Measure of centimeters to first fruiting branch.

COT102: The man-made cotton locus containing the vip3A gene and furtherdescribed in APHIS petition No. 03-155-01p.

Crossing: The mating of two parent plants.

Cross-pollination: Fertilization by the union of two gametes fromdifferent plants.

Desired Agronomic Characteristics: Agronomic characteristics (which willvary from crop to crop and plant to plant) such as yield, maturity, pestresistance and lint percent which are desired in a commerciallyacceptable crop or plant. For example, improved agronomiccharacteristics for cotton include yield, maturity, fiber content andfiber qualities.

Diploid: A cell or organism having two sets of chromosomes.

Disease Resistance: The ability of plants to restrict the activities ofa specified pest, such as an insect, fungus, virus, or bacterial.

Disease Tolerance: The ability of plants to endure a specified pest(such as an insect, fungus, virus or bacteria) or an adverseenvironmental condition and still perform and produce in spite of thisdisorder.

Donor Parent: The parent of a variety which contains the gene or traitof interest which is desired to be introduced into a second variety.

E1: Refers to elongation, a measure of fiber elasticity (high=moreelastic).

Emasculate: The removal of plant male sex organs or the inactivation ofthe organs with a cytoplasmic or nuclear genetic factor conferring malesterility or a chemical agent.

Essentially all the physiological and morphological characteristics: Aplant having essentially all the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics means a plant having the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics, except for the characteristics derived from the desiredtrait.

F₁ Hybrid: The first generation progeny of the cross of two nonisogenicplants.

Fallout (Fo): As used herein, the term “fallout” refers to the rating ofhow much cotton has fallen on the ground at harvest.

FB5 cm to FFN: Measure of centimeters from main stem to first fruitingnode at fruiting branch 5.

2.5% Fiber Span Length: Refers to the longest 2.5% of a bundle of fibersexpressed in inches as measured by a digital fibergraph.

Fiber Characteristics: Refers to fiber qualities such as strength, fiberlength, micronaire, fiber elongation, uniformity of fiber and amount offiber.

Fiber Elongation: Sometimes referred to as E1, refers to the elongationof the fiber at the point of breakage in the strength determination asmeasured by High Volume Instrumentation (HVI).

Fiber Span Length: The distance spanned by a specific percentage offibers in a test specimen, where the initial starting point of thescanning in the test is considered 100 percent as measured by a digitalfibergraph.

Fiber Strength (Str): Denotes the force required to break a bundle offibers. Fiber strength is expressed in grams per tex on an HVI.

Fruiting Nodes: The number of nodes on the main stem from which arisebranches that bear fruit or boll in the first position.

Genotype: The genetic constitution of a cell or organism.

Gin Turnout: Refers to fraction of lint in a machine harvested sample ofseed cotton (lint, seed, and trash).

GLT: A breeding stack of GlyTol together with Twinlink.

Glytol: The man-made cotton locus containing the 2mepsps gene andfurther described in APHIS petition No. 05-217-05n (referred to asGHB614).

GLTP: A breeding stack of GlyTol together with Twinlink and COT102.

Haploid: A cell or organism having one set of the two sets ofchromosomes in a diploid.

Length (Len): The fiber length in inches using an HVI.

Linkage: A phenomenon wherein alleles on the same chromosome tend tosegregate together more often than expected by chance if theirtransmission was independent.

Lint Index: The weight of lint per seed in milligrams.

Lint Percent: The percentage of the seed cotton that is lint, handpickedsamples.

Lint Yield: Refers to the measure of the quantity of fiber produced on agiven unit of land. Presented below in pounds of lint per acre.

Lint/boll: As used herein, the term “lint/boll” is the weight of lintper boll.

Maturity Rating: A visual rating near harvest on the amount of openboils on the plant. The rating range is from 1 to 5, 1 being early and 5being late.

Micronaire (Mic): Refers to a measure of fiber fineness (high=coarsefiber) as measured with an HVI machine. Within a cotton cultivar,micronaire is also a measure of maturity. Micronaire differences aregoverned by changes in perimeter or in cell wall thickness, or bychanges in both. Within a variety, cotton perimeter is fairly consistentand maturity will cause a change in micronaire. Consequently, micronairehas a high correlation with maturity within a variety of cotton.Maturity is the degree of development of cell wall thickness.

Mr: Fiber maturity ratio.

Phenotype: The detectable characteristics of a cell or organism, whichcharacteristics are the manifestation of gene expression.

Plant Height: The average height in meters of a group of plants.

Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL): Quantitative trait loci (QTL) refer togenetic loci that control to some degree numerically representabletraits that are usually continuously distributed.

Recurrent Parent: The repeating parent (variety) in a backcross breedingprogram. The recurrent parent is the variety into which a gene or traitis desired to be introduced.

Regeneration: The development of a plant from tissue culture.

Seed/boll: Refers to the number of seeds per boll, handpicked samples.

Seedcotton/boll: Refers to the weight of seedcotton per boll, handpickedsamples.

Seedweight: Refers to the weight of 100 seeds in grams.

Self-pollination: The transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigmaof the same plant or a plant of the same genotype.

Single Locus Converted (Conversion) Plant: Plants which are developed bya plant breeding technique called backcrossing wherein essentially allof the desired morphological and physiological characteristics of avariety are recovered in addition to the characteristics conferred bythe single locus transferred into the variety via the backcrossingtechnique. A single locus may comprise one gene, or in the case oftransgenic plants, one or more transgenes integrated into the hostgenome at a single site (locus).

Stringout Rating: also sometimes referred to as “Storm Resistance”refers to a visual rating prior to harvest of the relative looseness ofthe seed cotton held in the boll structure on the plant. The ratingvalues are from 1 to 5 (tight to loose in the boll).

Substantially Equivalent: A characteristic that, when compared, does notshow a statistically significant difference (e.g., p=0.05) from themean.

T1: A measure of fiber strength, grams per tex (high=stronger fiber).

Tissue Culture: A composition comprising isolated cells of the same or adifferent type or a collection of such cells organized into parts of aplant.

Transgene: A genetic locus comprising a sequence which has beenintroduced into the genome of a cotton plant by transformation.

Twinlink: A breeding stack of the man-made cotton locus containing thecry2Ae gene and further described in APHIS petition No. 08-340-01p(referred to as GHB119) in combination with the man-made cotton locuscontaining the cry1Ab gene and further described in APHIS petition No.08-340-01p (referred to as T304-40)

Twinlink: A breeding stack of the man-made cotton locus containing thecry2Ae gene and further described in APHIS petition No. 08-340-01p(referred to as GHB119) in combination with the man-made cotton locuscontaining the cry1Ab gene and further described in APHIS petition No.08-340-01p (referred to as T304-40).

Uniformity Ratio (Ur): The proportion of uniform length fibers. Theuniformity ratio is determined by dividing the 50% fiber span length bythe 2.5% fiber span length.

Vegetative Nodes: The number of nodes from the cotyledonary node to thefirst fruiting branch on the main stem of the plant.

CITED REFERENCES

-   Lawrence P. Burdett, “Cotton Variety 02T15,” U.S. Pub. No.    20090049564.-   F. N. Briggs, and P. F Knowles, 1967: “Introduction to Plant    Breeding”, Rheinhold Publishing Corporation.-   H. F. Sakhanoko et al 2004: “Induction of Somatic embryogenesis and    Plant Regeneration in Select Georgia and Pee Dee Cotton Lines”, Crop    Science 44: 2199-2205.-   Umbeck et al 1988: “Genetic engineering of cotton plants and lines”,    Patent application number EP0290355.-   Reynaerts et al 2000: “Improved method for Agrobacterium mediated    transformation of cotton”, Patent application number WO 0071733.-   P. Stam, 2003: “Marker-assisted introgression: speed at any cost?”    Proceedings of the Eucarpia Meeting on Leafy Vegetable Genetics and    Breeding, Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, 19-21 Mar. 2003. Eds.    Th. J. L. van Hintum, A. Lebeda, D. Pink, J. W. Schut. P 117-124.-   Trolinder et al. “Herbicide tolerant cotton plants having event    EE-GH1.” U.S. Pat. No. 6,818,807 (2004).

1. A seed of cotton variety FM 1621GL, wherein a representative seed ofsaid variety was deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-______.
 2. Aplant, or a regenerable part thereof, produced by growing the seed ofclaim
 1. 3. A plant, or a regenerable part thereof, obtained byvegetative reproduction from the plant, or a part thereof, of claim 2,wherein said plant expresses all of the morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of cotton variety FM 1621GL, a sample of seed of cottonvariety FM 1621GL having been deposited under ATCC Accession No.PTA-______.
 4. A process of vegetative reproduction of cotton variety FM1621GL comprising culturing regenerable cells or tissue from FM 1621GL,a sample of seed of cotton variety FM 1621GL having been deposited underATCC Accession No. PTA-______.
 5. A cell or tissue culture produced fromthe plant, or a part thereof, of claim
 2. 6. A cotton plant regeneratedfrom the cell or tissue culture of claim 5, said plant expressing all ofthe morphological and physiological characteristics of FM 1621GL, asample of seed of cotton variety FM 1621GL having been deposited underATCC Accession No. PTA-______.
 7. A method of producing an F1 hybridcotton seed, comprising the steps of crossing the plant of claim 2 witha different cotton plant and harvesting the resultant F1 hybrid cottonseed.
 8. An F1 hybrid cotton seed produced by the method of claim
 7. 9.An F1 hybrid cotton plant, or a regenerable part thereof, produced bygrowing the hybrid seed of claim
 8. 10. A method of introducing adesired trait into a cotton plant, the method comprising transformingthe plant of claim 2 with a transgene that confers the desired trait,wherein the transformed plant otherwise retains all of the morphologicaland physiological characteristics of cotton variety FM 1621GL andcontains the desired trait.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein saiddesired trait is fiber quality, herbicide resistance, insect resistance,bacterial disease resistance or fungal disease resistance.
 12. A methodof introducing a desired trait into a cotton plant, the methodcomprising transforming the plant of claim 9 with a transgene thatconfers the desired trait, wherein the transformed plant otherwiseretains all of the morphological and physiological characteristics ofcotton variety FM 1621GL and contains the desired trait, seed of cottonvariety FM 1621GL having been deposited under ATCC Accession No.PTA-______.
 13. A cotton plant produced by the method of claim
 10. 14. Amethod of introducing a single locus conversion into cotton variety FM1621GL comprising: (a) crossing a plant of variety FM 1621GL with asecond plant comprising a desired single locus to produce F1 progenyplants; (b) selecting F1 progeny plants that have the single locus toproduce selected F1 progeny plants; (c) crossing the selected progenyplants with at least a first plant of variety FM 1621GL to producebackcross progeny plants; (d) selecting backcross progeny plants thathave the single locus and otherwise comprise all of the physiologicaland morphological characteristics of cotton variety FM 1621GL to produceselected backcross progeny plants; and (e) repeating steps (c) and (d)one or more times in succession to produce selected second or higherbackcross progeny plants that comprise the single locus and otherwisecomprise all of the physiological and morphological characteristics ofcotton variety FM 1621GL when grown in the same environmentalconditions, wherein a representative seed of said variety has beendeposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-______.
 15. The method of claim14, wherein the single locus confers a trait selected from the groupconsisting of male sterility, herbicide tolerance, insect resistance,pest resistance, disease resistance, modified fatty acid metabolism,modified carbohydrate metabolism, and modified cotton fibercharacteristics.